Genesis 39:8

Potiphar's wife was Satan's tool in this wicked attack. She tried many times to seduce Joseph into adultery with her (vv. 7-14), but he refused every time. He told her that his master had trusted him with great responsibility in his house. He was not going to prove false to that trust by violating the marriage between his master and his wife.

In the Egyptian's house he saw a new field of duty. He looked to Jehovah, so that by serving Him he might best serve his master… He had been saved from a cruel death that seemed very near. So he humbled himself under God's hand, and set himself to do carefully and honestly whatever lay before him each day, to please the Master above. That is why he prospered and became master of the situation. Potiphar had never had such a slave, and neither had anyone else. There was no self-seeking in him, and no work done only when the master was watching.

Devotion to the Lord exposes Joseph to the hatred of the devil. The devil has completely failed to overcome Joseph by the world's frowns and by hard circumstances. So he changes his tactics and tries to overcome Joseph by the pleasures of sin… Joseph escapes the trap by holding to his faithfulness to his master and his fear of God… Here is the secret of Joseph's steady life before his master. He served faithfully in front of people because he walked always in the presence of God. And because he walked in the fear of God, he was kept safe in the hour of temptation.

Then came a time of fierce and long testing… Here the testing met him day after day. Nothing kept him safe but his fear of God and his recognition of the great wickedness of what she offered him. Whether young or old, as we pass through this defiling world, we do well to keep this question always in our hearts: "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" If he had given in, he would have sinned against the woman, against Potiphar and against himself. But the thought that controlled and saved him was "against God."

The blessed Book is full of passages that show, in every possible way, how immensely important the fear of God is… The man who walks day by day in the fear of God is kept from every form of moral corruption. A living sense of God's presence must be a real shelter from every temptation. How often we find that the presence of a very holy and spiritual person acts as a healthy check on silliness and folly! If another human being has that much moral influence, how much more powerful would the felt presence of God be!

The temptation came "day by day" (v. 10), and the attacks grew more persistent, until Joseph "flees" from the temptation and the devil is beaten. Having failed as the tempter, he now becomes the persecutor (vv. 13-18). The woman who once looked at Joseph with evil desire now lies about him. As one writer said, "Those who have broken the bonds of modesty will never be held by the bonds of truth. It is no new thing for the best of men to be falsely accused of the worst crimes by people who are themselves the worst of criminals." So Joseph escapes from a bad woman and keeps a good conscience. But keeping a good conscience can cost a lot.